In a stunning about-face, prosecutors have dropped all charges against a former Schaumburg police officer who was due to stand trial Tuesday after he was accused five years ago of taking part in a scheme to steal and sell drugs.

At a brief hearing Tuesday in DuPage County, Assistant State’s Attorney Timothy Diamond cited the emergence of “previously undisclosed information” that he said called into question whether authorities had sufficient evidence to try former Officer John Cichy.

Cichy’s lawyer, Jay Fuller, called the turn of events “one of the most incredible situations I’ve ever seen in my life.”

The collapse of the case against Cichy on the day his trial was supposed to begin was an extraordinary twist in a scandal that rocked the law enforcement community and the village when he and two other officers were arrested outside Woodfield Mall in 2013.

Cichy had been accused of conspiring with the other officers to steal drugs from dealers and to sell them for profit through other dealers. The claims against the officers prompted a criminal investigation that included surveillance and sting operations.

The case had far-reaching implications: The two other officers involved pleaded guilty, and both are serving prison sentences of more than 20 years. The arrests also led authorities to drop charges against 20 alleged offenders whose cases were handled by the officers and resulted in multiple civil lawsuits and payouts from the village to people who said the cops violated their rights. The Schaumburg Police Department was also overhauled in the wake of the officers’ arrests, and the special investigations unit the men worked on was disbanded.

But on Tuesday, DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin issued a statement saying “recent developments” prompted his decision in the 5-year-old case.

The statement did not detail what those developments were, but Berlin said he was legally and ethically bound to drop a case in the absence of sufficient admissible evidence to support a conviction.

The county’s top prosecutor added that the turn of events “will have no impact whatsoever in the pleas and sentencing” of the other two former officers, Matthew Hudak and Terrance O’Brien. Berlin said the evidence against the other officers was different than what his office gathered against Cichy.

Berlin’s office declined to comment further on what went wrong with the case.

But attorneys for Hudak and O’Brien have already signaled that they might seek to undo their clients’ convictions — possibly by requesting that they be allowed to take back their guilty pleas — based on the turn in the case against Cichy.

“It’s extremely odd to throw out a case they worked on for five years, with video and audio evidence, and such a high-profile nature,” said Hudak’s attorney, Thomas Glasgow. “I’d really like to know why. If they drop charges, that leads to more questions than answers for everybody involved.”

Glasgow and Paul DeLuca, an attorney for O’Brien, asked the court at Tuesday’s hearing to retain all evidence in the Cichy case.

The courtroom on Tuesday was packed with supporters of Cichy, many of them from his church in Bartlett. Cichy did not comment after the hearing, but Fuller, his attorney, described him as relieved.

After his arrest, Cichy posted a YouTube video promoting his newfound Christian faith. The former officer believes that the outcome of the case was “part of God’s plan,” Fuller said.

Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune

Former Schaumburg police officer John Cichy, enters the DuPage County courthouse in Wheaton on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018. Five years ago Cichy was accused of taking part in a scheme to steal and sell drugs but charges against him were dropped today.

Former Schaumburg police officer John Cichy, enters the DuPage County courthouse in Wheaton on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018. Five years ago Cichy was accused of taking part in a scheme to steal and sell drugs but charges against him were dropped today.

(Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

The three officers worked undercover, investigating drug sales and other crimes, and sometimes went into jurisdictions outside of Schaumburg.

Prosecutors were expected to call on criminal informants as witnesses, which can sometimes raise objections about credibility. But authorities had said they planned to present other evidence, such as audio and video recordings of the officers and stolen merchandise recovered from the officers, including government-traced cash.

The case came to light five years ago, when Carol Stream police arrested an alleged drug dealer with 10 ounces of cocaine in his apartment. Officials said he told them that after initially serving as an informant for the three officers, he became selling drugs that they seized from other dealers, splitting the proceeds with the officers.

In some cases, the officers turned in a small portion of drugs seized as evidence in criminal cases, then sold or kept the rest, prosecutors said.

Working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, investigators set up a sting. They planted $20,000 in government cash in a storage locker, and the informant told the officers it belonged to another dealer. The officers were caught on video stealing the cash from the storage unit, and the money was found in their possession, prosecutors said. Cichy was wearing a mask but raised it to show his face, prosecutors said.

All three officers swiftly resigned from the Schaumburg department. Hudak and O’Brien pleaded guilty in the case in 2014 and were sentenced to 26 and 24 years in prison, respectively, but were expected to serve half of that under typical sentencing guidelines. Cichy, who is 35 and from Streamwood, has been free on bond while awaiting trial.

Prosecutors subpoenaed both officers to testify against Cichy. O’Brien agreed to testify as part of his plea deal, but prosecutors apparently didn’t make that a condition of Hudak’s plea. Glasgow said he would have advised his client to refuse to testify by exercising his constitutional right against self-incrimination.

In addition, the case was expected to include testimony from the whistleblower who told police that Hudak and O’Brien delivered more than 100 grams of cocaine to him in January 2013. He received probation for reduced charges in his own 2010 drug case, which was ordered sealed by the court.

Another alleged drug dealer told investigators that drugs and $1,000 were missing from his safe after the officers came to his home, and that Cichy told him he wouldn’t be brought back if he fled to Mexico.

Though Fuller, in an 11th hour motion filed last week, raised questions about how authorities gathered and handled evidence, he also said of his client: “One word I wasn’t going to use was vindication.” He said Cichy played a much lesser role than the other officers co-defendants and they were going to challenge all the charges.

It’s possible, that prosecutors could re-file charges in DuPage County — they gave no indication on Tuesday they would do so — or federal charges could be brought in Chicago. However, some crimes have a five-year statute of limitations on filing charges that has expired. Cichy’s trial was delayed repeatedly because of late disclosures of evidence in the case, Fuller said, and because of prosecutors’ failed appeal over what evidence could be considered in the case.

The case has had widespread ramifications. As a result of the scandal, Cook County prosecutors dropped about 23 criminal drug cases involving 20 offenders, cases on which the three Schaumburg officers worked.

In addition, the village of Schaumburg settled 17 lawsuits that were filed by defendants who claimed they were falsely accused by the officers. The settlements, including attorneys’ fees, total $1.3 million, and only about one-tenth of that was covered by insurance, village officials said.

The village replaced police Chief Brian Howerton after the case surfaced. A consultant’s investigation found a lack of supervision, and the department reorganized to prevent a similar recurrence.

The village issued the following statement Friday, before news broke of the collapse of the case against Cichy:

“The unfortunate actions of a few individuals five years ago does not represent the scores of police officers who have continued to serve Schaumburg faithfully and honestly every day. The police department has worked diligently to modify its practices under new leadership to improve communication and increase accountability within the department. The village has put this incident behind it and continues to rebuild the police department’s reputation by focusing on providing a professional, high-quality level of service that the public deserves.”

After the charges were dropped, the village issued another statement: “While we don’t know the basis for the decision, nor were we involved in the process, the village does look forward to final closure of this unfortunate chapter. Our focus is on continuing the exemplary work being performed on a daily basis by the women and men who work to keep our community safe.”